Think about some of the best apps ever created: Uber, DoorDash, Facebook, Twitter, etc. All of these platforms have something in common—they understand their consumers' needs and wants and optimize their services to provide exactly that.
The same goes for physical products. PlayStation, Xbox, all the way down to Tootsie, they all know what their customers want, expect, and need.
But how is this achieved? Well, it comes down to product service management. This process helps create a product that is market-fit and actually benefits the target consumer.
At MentorCruise, our mentors help business owners and entrepreneurs drive success through proper product service management. With this, products become valuable, scalable, and, most importantly, desired.
In this blog, we'll be covering the following:
Product service management is, as the name implies, a marketing function focused on the act of managing a product or service sold by a company.
This includes:
Overall, it’s a complex process that takes into account many different aspects of sales, as well as the product itself and its target audience.
A good example of product service management at work is the Apple iPhone. It’s an item that features small iterative changes every year, changing it slightly in terms of user experience, software, hardware, and design in order to best fit what consumers want at the time of release.
Firstly, product service management ensures high customer satisfaction. By actively solving problems and tweaking products to meet customer needs, satisfaction stays strong.
Additionally, it boosts customer loyalty. When customers see their needs are taken care of, they keep coming back. This creates lasting loyalty to your brand.
Moreover, product service management sparks greater innovation. It offers clear insights into customer desires, driving the creation of new features and improvements.
Also, it leads to reduced support costs. By tackling issues early and offering great support, product service management cuts down on expensive, time-consuming support cases.
Finally, product service management makes marketing more effective. Knowing what your customers truly value means you can develop marketing messages that hit the mark every time.
Boiling down the duties of a Product Service Manager can be done fairly easily, but breaking down the specific tasks can get complicated.
Because of this, we’ll be separating every single duty into its own segment, giving it a sufficiently in-depth explanation so you get a better idea of how everything needs to be done.
One of the primary responsibilities of product service managers is to assess the performance of existing products and determine if they’re meeting their specified objectives and targets.
This involves analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) including, but not limited to:
Following this performance analysis, it’s the job of the product manager to determine the course of action and future roadmaps to address any shortcomings that have been identified.
This can involve looking to improve the product through minor adjustments or further product development or potentially discontinuing the product offering entirely.
In order to create a product or service that people will want to purchase, it’s first important to establish who you’re aiming your product at and what they want out of it.
Keeping up with what your consumer wants through feedback and testimonials will make marketing and selling your product to them an easier process.
Going back to using smartphones as an example, some smartphones are targeted squarely at tech enthusiasts, and as such, the features on the device need to be tuned to their tastes, be it innovative new additions or the fastest chipsets available.
On the other hand, smartphones targeted at casual audiences will emphasize aspects like pricing, design, or camera quality to draw in customers.
As a company, you always want to stay ahead of your competitors in one way or another in order to secure customer loyalty.
As such, product service managers make it a key part of their jobs to keep tabs on all developments by their competitors in order to keep their own products and services competitive.
A good product service management example of this is eCommerce platforms, and how they evolve their options based on what their competitors introduce.
This has led to many advancements in the e-commerce sector, from accepting instant Paypal and card payments to the introduction of cryptocurrency as a valid means of purchasing products and services.
Another core component of a product manager’s responsibilities is to stay up to date with market trends, industry developments, and emerging technologies that are relevant to their products.
As part of this process, they’ll evaluate if their products are aligned with the latest market demands and drivers, and ascertain if any advancements or adaptations should be implemented within the company’s own products. This helps to ensure their product offering remains competitive with the latest products on the market.
In addition to the incorporation of new features, this process could also involve exploring partnerships with companies that have developed complementary solutions or leveraging new technologies to enhance the current product offering.
The bread and butter of product service management is in development, and this is where all the observations made will finally factor in.
It’s a heavily involved process that involves conceptualizing the new product or service, calculating costs of production, following government regulations and keeping an eye on shifting market trends to make adjustments during product.
It is an exciting time for any product service manager, but also one that will represent the company’s performance and future in any given segment. As such, it can be a stressful position to hold, but one that’s necessary and rewarding.
After releasing a product, it’s also on the product service manager to keep the company’s entire backlog of products and services up-to-date in online databases or customer catalogs.
Product service managers will once again repeat the process of collecting feedback, observing market trends, and then introducing new products and services to fit the new needs and desires of customers.
Current products will be updated for new customers, while older, weaker products that no longer sell well will be discontinued, and outdated services will be removed in order to cut costs and prevent losses.
Leftover stock will then be sold in a way that simultaneously promotes new products in an effort to make back as much as possible.
Product and service managers must regularly evaluate their company’s pricing strategy to maximize the profitability of its existing products.
This is achieved through evaluating factors such as production costs, market demand, competitor pricing, and customer value perception.
Based on this analysis, the product manager will determine if any changes are necessary. Potential changes would include pricing adjustments or changes to promotions or special offers, such as discounts or bundling strategies to maximize revenues and profitability.
A product manager must observe and assess each and every stage of their product’s lifecycle.
This starts from initial conception, runs through product launch and initial adoption, and then moves to maturity and potential decline.
They assess if a product is reaching market saturation or decline stages and make decisions on whether the company would be better served by updating the product, rebranding it, or potentially diversifying the offering in some other way.
Alternatively, they may determine that it’s in the best interests of the company to phase out the product entirely and focus whatever resources are available on developing new products.
Whilst more commonly associated with the Supply Chain Manager or procurement functions, product managers are often required to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain and distribution channels supporting their products.
As part of this process, they will assess various different elements of both supply and distribution, such as inventory management, production capabilities, logistics, and channel performance.
Based on this analysis, they will make decisions on things like optimizing the supply chain, exploring new distribution channels, and improving channel relationships. Alternatively, product managers may pass their recommendations on to the supply chain or procurement manager to inform their final decisions.
That serves as a good wrap-up for what product service managers do, though more often than not, there are added levels of complexity to the job. It’s why getting a good product service manager gets told to business owners time and time again.
The benefits of product service management for your business are endless, but to summarize, they can be grouped into short bullet points, which we’ll list here.
Product/service management is crucial in marketing, handling the lifecycle of products and services to ensure they meet customer expectations.
Key marketing activities influenced by product/service management include:
Benefits of integrating product/service management with marketing:
This synergy enhances customer satisfaction, fostering loyalty and increasing sales.
As we’ve seen, a company must provide a broad range of product-related services to remain competitive.
Any business benefits greatly from having product service management. In 2024, companies are more cutthroat than ever, and it’s a requirement to take any possible niche advantage you can get.
If you’re having trouble finding a product service manager to help out with your company, don’t worry; we have a solution for you.
At MentorCruise, you can apply for mentorship from trained professional product managers and developers who will show you every single technique and tactic you could need to successfully run your business.
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